by Tamil Information Centre, London, June 18, 2022 We are saddened by the demise of journalist and human rights advocate Periyathamby Rajanayagam, known popularly as ‘Tamil Times Rajanayagam’. He passed away at Lewisham Hospital on 17 June 2022 at the age of 84. Rajanayagam has been described as a ‘journalist with commitment and principles’ and… Read more »
Talduwa Somarama Thero
– Hanged 60 years ago by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 9, 2022 On July 4, 1962, Talduwa Somarama Thero was hanged at the Welikade prison, Colombo. His crime: He was framed as the sole assassin of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, the then Prime Minister of Ceylon, on September 25, 1959. This tragic shooting event happened at the… Read more »
U.S. State Dept Letter Leaked by 2009 Hillary Clinton Emails re IMF
IMF Supported War Crimes and Genocide in Sri Lanka by Tamils for Biden, EINPresswire, June 9, 2022 The IMF and World Bank desired that the Tamils be “completely defeated,” regardless of “any collateral damage inflicted” by the Sri Lankan government. EINPresswire.com/ — The IMF and World Bank desired that the Tamils be “completely defeated,” regardless… Read more »
Sri Lanka is an Omen
To solve a global economic unwinding, the world must learn to focus on more than one crisis at a time. by Mark Malloch-Brown, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC, May 25, 2022, 11:25 AM Many Western leaders are behaving as though there is one crisis in the world: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While some are waking up… Read more »
From ‘Donor Darling’ to Default
by Benjamin Parkin, Financial Times, London, May 26, 2022 The country has opened talks with the IMF over a $4bn bailout with observers waiting to see how China, one of the main creditors, will react It is 10am and the queue outside a petrol station in one suburb of Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Colombo is… Read more »
In Sri Lanka, Organic Farming Went Catastrophically Wrong
A nationwide experiment is abandoned after producing only misery. by Ted Nordhaus & Saloni Shah, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC, March 5, 2022 Faced with a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis, Sri Lanka called off an ill-conceived national experiment in organic agriculture this winter. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised in his 2019 election campaign to transition the… Read more »
May 31-June 4, 1981: Five Days of State Terror in Jaffna
by Santaseelan Kadirgamar, Transcurrents, June 4, 2011, also posted in Colombo Telegraph, February 3, 2013 Two years after the end of the war in Lanka*, without a political solution in sight, it may be appropriate to look back at events that occurred 30 years ago. 31 May to 4 June 2011 marks the 30th anniversary… Read more »
The Library Which Sparked a Civil War in Sri Lanka
by Victor Rajalingam, May 30, 2022 The Jaffna Library after it was burnt down. The burning of the Jaffna Public Library took place on the 31st of May, 1981, when an organized mob of Sinhalese individuals went on a rampage, burning the library. It was one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the 20th… Read more »
Noolaham: Preserving Lanka’s Tamil Language Heritage Digitally
by Shannine Daniel, The Sunday Times, Colombo, May 29, 2022 The Noolaham digital library was initially a Tamil language “virtual library” which contained documents, books, manuscripts, videos, photos and other material in the Tamil language. Established in 2005, it has since expanded to include books and other documents in Sinhala, English, Sanskrit, Dutch and French…. Read more »
On Rajiv Gandhi’s Folly of Humanitarian ‘Air Drop’
Of 1987 by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 29, 2022 This is a sequel to my previously posted item of March 11, 2022, ‘On Rajiv Gandhi’s pretense for Eelam Cause: ‘Operation Flower Garland’ of 1987. I provide a 1987 anthology below, consisting of editorials that appeared in the New York Times (June 7, 1987) and the… Read more »
Behind the Lyrics of Rathna Sri Wijesinghe
by Yamu, Colombo, July 21, 2021 It was the early 80s. Born into a Sinhala, Buddhist family in the South, Vineetha Samarasinghe Gunasekara fell in love with Balasingham Nadesan, a handsome, young Tamil man from the North. https://youtu.be/y8gyYsgRpdw Poets are not always born, nor are lyricists. Therefore, it’s quite rare to come across someone who is a poet and a… Read more »
‘Prisoner #1056: A Survivor’s Story’
Why and how, I wrote Prisoner #1056 – The story behind the story by Roy Ratnavel, May 18, 2022 Book expected to be released by Penguin Random House on April 18th, 2023. Pre-order at https://www.amazon.ca/Prisoner-1056-Survivors-Roy-Ratnavel-ebook/dp/B09Z4JKCCV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2D3PVSCLYHW3V&keywords=roy+ratnavel&qid=1652886733&sprefix=roy+rat%2Caps%2C115&sr=8-1 ‘The Rise’ Keynote Address about the book, May 8, 2022, London on YouTube In my thirties, perhaps around the age… Read more »
Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka – Session III
Berlin Session by Permanent People’s Tribunal, Berlin, May 20-22, 2022 Following the Sessions held in Dublin (14-16 January 2010) and Bremen (7-10 December 2013), the third Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka will take place under the aegis of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on 20-22 May 2022 in Berlin. As was the case with previous sessions, this third session was requested by… Read more »
Journalist in Hiding After She Exposed ‘Unlawful’ Leader
by Matthew Campbell, The Sunday Times, London, May 14, 2022, Tamil & Sinhalese translations of the English provided. (Sinhala version has not been verified) Gotabaya Unlawful Election The Times May 14 2022 ‘If they knew I was doing this, Rajapaksa’s thugs would take my children and send me their heads in a basket’ Journalist in… Read more »
13 Years Ago Today – A Massacre in Mullivaikkal
by Tamil Guardian, London, May 18, 2022 Photograph: A scene of devastation in Mullivaikkal pictured days after the Sri Lankan military had overrun the area. Marking 13 years since the Sri Lankan military onslaught that massacred tens of thousands of Tamils, we revisit the final days leading up to the 18th of May 2009 – a date remembered… Read more »
Sri Lanka, the Bamboo Lounge
by Roy Ratnavel, May 15, 2022 Some people like to collect coins, first edition stamps, retro comic books or sports memorabilia. I collect spoken words. I hunt and gather these words when I overhear them on the street while watching movies, in my living room via television. These words of the mouth include cultural sayings,… Read more »
Notable Tamil Sycophants of Rajapaksa Rascals
by Sachi Sri Kantha, May 12, 2022 The dictionary definition for sycophant is revealing, “n. servile flatterer, toady, parasitic person. From French sycophante or from Latin > Greek sukophantes informer.” [The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 7th ed., 1983, pp. 1081-1082] Now that the stars and fortunes of the Rajapaksas have… Read more »
Amnesty: Trinco Five at GTOB
by Amnesty International USA, Apri, 28, 2022 On April 29, Amnesty International USA held its 2022 virtual “Get on the Bus” event, featuring speakers and actions on Sri Lanka, Tibet/China, Syria and Ukraine. The speaker for Sri Lanka was Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, Amnesty’s South Asia and Sri Lanka researcher. She spoke about the case of the… Read more »
An Ignored Genocide
Of Tamils at Mullivaikkal in Sri Lanka by Thambu Kanagasabai LLM London, Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 11, 2022 There cannot be any plausible reasons to deny the fact of a genocidal agenda initiated by the Sri Lankan Governments immediately after the independence in 1948 against the Tamils living in… Read more »
The Roots of Sri Lanka’s Crisis
by Michael, Kugelman, Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief, Washington, DC, May 12, 2022 For months, anti-government protesters in Sri Lanka have railed against skyrocketing inflation and an economic crisis that has nearly exhausted Sri Lankan foreign reserves. They have demanded the resignations of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda, who stepped down as prime… Read more »